Shangri La
by Kanna37
Summary: Kagome finally passes on, and Inuyasha, true to his words, cannot live without his beloved wife.  He allows himself to follow her in death - and finds out the amazing fate in store for them both. 3rd Best Oneshot FA 1st quarter 2012.


**Shangri-La**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

~oOo~

The day Kagome passed away was a cold, rainy, gray day, so entirely suited to the way her absence made me feel. From the moment she'd breathed her last, I had felt a pain like no other – as if part of me was trying to tear itself away. Do you have any idea how horrifying it feels to be literally torn in half?

It was raw, it was excruciatingly painful, it was agonizing – and I knew then that I wouldn't be much longer for this world, either. I'd always said I couldn't live without her, and it turns out I was right all along – I couldn't. We were too entwined, too much a part of each other for one of us to survive the loss of the other half of ourselves. Despite the fact that I was still technically young, and in fact didn't look hardly any older than during the time of Naraku and was also in perfect health, my body was shutting down.

Strangely enough, the thought of dying didn't frighten me – I could only wish for my death to hurry so I could stop feeling this horrible pain, this inability to draw enough air to ever breathe right again. I felt like I was slowly suffocating to death. What did scare me, though, was the thought of the separation between she and I – even if we were reborn around the same time, it didn't mean we'd ever find each other again. And even _if_ we did, we'd still be apart for some time to come.

Just the thought of that sent fresh agony through my heart, and I felt like I was already in hell, with no hope of ever finding my salvation again.

Some might think me greedy – after all, we'd had ninety beautiful years together. Yes, Kagome was well over a hundred years old when she passed, but it may as well have been a hundred seconds to me, because even eternity with her wasn't enough, and in that moment, I hated the kami with everything within me. I was jealous – they got to fall in love, and never have to be apart again if they didn't choose to be – not time or death or anything else could ever get between a kami and his bride.

Why couldn't I have the same privilege with the woman who was the best part of my soul?

I knew this was going to be hard on our children, losing both parents in the same day, but they were adults now, with their own lives, and I couldn't be without the person that was _my_ life. And it's not like no other children had to lose their parents – it happens to everyone. The most important thing is that they wouldn't be alone, and that I got to say my goodbyes, just as their mother had.

So when my body began to fail, I lay myself down next to my beautiful wife - whether she looked old and gray or not, she would always be beautiful to me - not even caring that she was cold to the touch, since I knew I would be soon, as well. It was not frightening like I had always thought it would be, but I knew that was because I was in too much pain to care anymore, and just wanted death to hurry.

He did.

The strange thing was, as I closed my eyes and took my last breath, I didn't really feel any different than when I was still breathing. Confused, I opened my eyes, and realized that I had already passed – it was that easy, coming between one breath and the next – but I still hurt, because Kagome wasn't with me. I looked back down, and saw myself laying next to her, and I could feel a pull away from that sight, but I resisted – I was afraid to leave the only part of her I had left. But then the pull became impossible to resist, and with my soul crying, still reaching out for its missing half, I turned... and met the gaze of the oddest creature I'd ever seen.

"Oi! Who the hell are you?" I asked in confusion, and the being turned its head to look at me with a smile.

"I'm your guide," it replied, (I couldn't tell whether it was male or female).

"Keh! Guide? Who needs a guide to go to hell?"

At that, the being laughed. "Well, you don't need a guide to go to hell, but that's not where you're going. Hurry along, now – there's someone waiting most impatiently for you."

My hopes rose as soon as I heard those words. "Waiting? Is it Kagome?" I asked breathlessly, moving faster after the person.

"Yes."

"Eh, what's your name, anyway?" I asked then, a little annoyed at not being able to categorize the being before me in any way. "And if I'm not goin' to hell, where am I goin'?"

"I am called Hogosha."

"Keh. And the rest of it?" I asked impatiently after a moment.

"We are going to a place that no one living knows of – it is a place that only the kami, and I, are aware exists – and those who live within its boundaries, of course. For most people, the cycle of birth and re-birth is inevitable, but for a special few, another fate awaits," Hogosha said, and I couldn't help but be fascinated.

"A different place than most people go to, eh?" I said, and Hogosha nodded at me, smiling all the while. He – I was just going to call him male, seemed easiest to me - didn't seem to pay any attention to the mists and vague lights around us, and I found no reason to, either. I was too busy listening to my strange guide.

"Aa. It would be rather difficult to split apart a couple whose bonds are so strong that they have actually bonded their souls together. How do you separate a soul from itself and expect it to function? When a couple that is so close passes on, they are taken to this place to spend eternity together, instead."

I froze for a moment in shock, hope burning through me as I took in Hogosha's words. It was almost too good to be true... I _wouldn't_ have to ever be separated from my sweet Kagome?

"And me'n Kagome are going to be in that place... forever?" I asked cautiously, wanting to be certain before I celebrated.

"Death found no way to separate you, and she couldn't and wouldn't move on with her soul tied to yours. So she was sent ahead here to await your coming. I've never seen someone bind themselves to each other so tightly. She simply refused to even think of leaving you to go anywhere, until she was assured that you would be joining her shortly. Stubborn, isn't she?" my guide chuckled, obviously amused at her obstinate nature.

"Keh, you have no idea. She's a sneaky, stubborn wench," I sighed, thinking back over a lifetime with her.

"I am _not_ stubborn, Inuyasha! I'm just not about to be walked all over like a tatami mat, that's all. Oh, and I'm not a wench, either," her voice broke in tartly.

I had never been so glad to hear anything in my entire life, and as my wife's scolding tones broke over me, the pain I'd been in since the moment she'd passed just disappeared, and the biggest grin swept over my face that had probably ever been seen on it. I pounced her once more youthful self, forgetting my guide and death and everything else but the fact that I was holding her once more, and that we would never be apart again.

Ever.

From this moment on, we truly had eternity.

And as I enjoyed her happy assault on my person, I realized that nothing else would ever have been enough – eternity was the only thing that would ever satisfy me. I could do without everyone else – Miroku and Sango, though they'd passed on before us, my children... even Kikyou, who I'd once cared for so much – I could handle never seeing anyone else again... but not Kagome.

I could never give her up, and now I wouldn't have to.

In that moment, I couldn't help but thank those kami I'd hated so passionately just a little while earlier, feeling rather sheepish and, amazingly for me, guilty at my bad thoughts. All I could do was thank them for their mercy, and forgiveness for those bad thoughts, because this was certainly no punishment.

Finally pulling away from her, I looked around at our surroundings, and my jaw almost fell open at the beauty of the place. We were standing at the head of a valley high in some mountains somewhere, a bit of mist giving the place an almost mysterious air – and below us, in the very center of that beautiful place of mists and mountains and rivers and falls, was a shining city like nothing I'd ever seen.

At my expression, my sweet Kagome smiled at me, and said, "Welcome to Shangri-La, Inuyasha. This is our world, now... and there's even two people here that I think you might like to see," she gestured at the road that led down into the valley, and along it I could see a couple walking towards me, hands held just as I and Kagome were doing. As I looked closer, my heart almost stopped beating – for I recognized my mother, and there was no mistaking the male she was with as anyone other than my father.

Keh. Now I _really_ have to apologize to kami... because they've blessed me more than I ever thought a lowly hanyou would ever be blessed, and even living through all the hell I did before meeting Kagome was worth it.

I would go through it all again to be right where I am right now.

Heh... guess I'm lucky I won't have to, though... and so, with a smile at my wife, I tugged her hand and walked forward to meet my parents, who had stopped just at the entrance to that valley.

"Thanks, Hogosha!" I called back, not looking behind me again – I knew somehow he would hear me, and with that, Kagome and I moved into our destiny, and the past could no longer touch me or hurt me, or separate me from the woman who was my other half.

I couldn't think of any better end to life than that.

~oOo~

A/N: I don't really write in first person much, but that was the only way this little story would work. ~shrugs~

Amber


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